


A Modern Take on the Classic Love Triangle

by tacticalshovel



Category: Original Work
Genre: Asexual Character, F/M, Gay Character, I did not mean to capslock that but oh well, Love Triangle, M/M, Parties, THERE'S A KITTEN, University Students, boys being dumb, but not the usual love triangle, copious amounts of flirting, probably plenty of swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-09 02:11:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8871622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tacticalshovel/pseuds/tacticalshovel
Summary: Ethan and Tom are both flirting with Jenny, trying to win her affection and score a date, but it becomes a big competition after a while. It all comes to an end at party-expert-Ben's birthday party, but it doesn't end the way anyone thought it would. Well, except maybe anyone with eyes and half a brain.This has been sort of proof-read in a half-ass way, so there shouldn't be any huge mistakes. Let me know if there are.(This was based of a prompt I read a while back, not sure of the origins as the internet takes things and runs with them. Here's the just of the prompt: (Spoilers!) Two guys are fighting over a girl, but then she realizes she's asexual and get's a cat. And the guys realize they were just fighting over her to impress the other, and they end up getting together.)





	

“Hey! Jenny!” Jenny turned her gaze away from her math homework to a guy with light brown hair and light grey eyes striding towards the table she was seated at. “Do you still need help with your math?”

“Actually, Ethan,” she replied, leaning back in her chair. “Tom here offered to help, and since we’re in the same math class I thought it would be easier.” The boy beside Jenny looked up at Ethan and smiled mischievously, his dark hair bringing out the glint in his brown eyes.

“Yeah,” he said, leaning back and resting his arm on the back of her chair. “I heard she needed help and here we are.” He grinned as Ethan frowned, and the two stared at each other for a few seconds before Ethan broke eye contact and smiled at Jenny.

“Well,” he said, his eyes flitting back to Tom for a second. “Don’t forget about that lunch tomorrow!” Tom’s smile fell.

“Don’t worry!” she told him, smiling brightly. “I’m super excited to try the food at this place.” Then she turned back to Tom.

“Can we end the lesson here for now?” she asked. Tom nodded and smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. He could see Ethan looking smug in his peripheral vision. “I’m all mathed out and need to grab some groceries.”

“No problem,” he answered. “We’ll just pick this back up another day.” Jenny nodded and began packing her papers back into her binder. Ethan put her pen and ruler back in her pencil case, blocking Tom’s reach with his hand.

“See you later!” she said to both of them once all her stuff was packed into her bag. They both watched her leave and made sure she was out of earshot before speaking again.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” asked Ethan, attempting to keep his voice down in the library. Tom gave him a sickly-sweet smile that he reserved just for Ethan.

“I’m helping Jenny with her math.” Tom replied with a smile. Ethan glared at him.

“You knew I was planning on tutoring her first.”

“Are you saying I started tutoring her in math before you could just to earn brownie points and make you look bad?” he asked with faux innocence. “Because if you are, you would be right.” Then he stood up abruptly and put his books away in his bag, an arrogant smirk on his face. Ethan had to resist the urge to yell and instead seethed silently as he watched Tom walk away.

“You win this time,” he called. “But you won’t win her!” Tom just laughed in response without looking back. Ethan grimaced. He always hated that laugh.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * *

 

“This is so good!” Ethan smiled as Jenny took another bite of the orange-strawberry cheesecake he had ordered for dessert. “Are you sure you don’t want any more?” Ethan shook his head.

“No, I’m full. You can have the rest.” Jenny put her hand over her heart and let out a loud gasp.

“I’m touched.” Then she smiled and stabbed the last piece with her fork, scooping up the last of the whipped cream with it. Ethan turned to look at the flower arrangement on their table, not a huge fan of watching people eat, especially not Jenny. Though she was cute, she hadn’t seemed to master the art of not getting food all over her face every time she took a bite. His thoughts wandered to Tom and how jealous he must be right then. He smiled smugly as he pictured Tom’s stupid face, how his eyebrows fell when he frowned, how-

“I feel so bad that I ate most of the dessert myself when you offered to pay.” Ethan was brought back to the situation at hand when Jenny spoke up. He saw that she had cleaned her face with a napkin and breathed an inner sigh of relief.

“Don’t worry about it,” he told her, twirling his fork in his right hand. “Consider it a date.” Jenny threw her head back in laughter.

“You’re so funny!” She stopped laughing after a second. “But,” she looked him in the eye. “If this actually was a date I wouldn’t expect that classic ‘the guy pays for the date’ stuff. I find it a bit unfair, too be honest.”

“But I always like to treat my date,” he replied. “Regardless of their gender.” Jenny gave him an interesting look.

“Regardless of their gender, hey? I didn’t know you were into more than girls.” She smiled and hit his arm. “I’m just joking, I don’t care about your preferences.”

“Well, that’s good,” he said. “Or this would have been a really awkward ending to a date.” She smiled and shook her head.

“You’re really trying to drive home this ‘date’ thing, aren’t you?” He just smiled coyly. “Tell you what,” she started, leaning forward a bit. “You give me time to think on this and I might decide to go out with you. I’m just trying to make some decisions right now, okay?” Ethan nodded and smiled reassuringly.

“Don’t worry, I can wait a bit for a reply.” After a second he added. “And don’t feel pressured to say yes, I’m a big boy, so I won’t be too devastated if you decide against it.”

“Thanks.” She smiled back, genuinely thankful. “Now let’s get out of here and check out that new statue they put up in the park. The bear one.”

“Sounds good.” Ethan leaned back and waved to their waitress as she passed by. “Could we get the check? Thanks.”

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

“You don’t have to wait to walk me to class every time, you know?” Tom pushed off from his spot against the wall, joining Jenny as she made her way to her English Lit class.

“But I want to,” he assured her. “I like walking with you. It gives me something to think about during that boring class.” He flashed her a smile when she looked up at him, twirling a piece of her dark brown hair between her fingers. There was a good half a foot height difference between them so he towered over her easily.

“I just feel kind of bad, though.” Then she added, quieter, “Which seems to have become a bit of a trend lately.” Tom felt kind of bad.

“Hey,” he started, cautiously. “I have tickets to this Imax film, arctic something or other. Wanna join me? It’s next Friday.” He heard Jenny let out a breath.

“I- um…” she stuttered. “I don’t really have the extra money to go to an Imax movie right now…” Tom cut her off.

“No, you don’t have to pay! I already bought the tickets, I just need someone to go with me.”

“Are you sure?” she asked. “I don’t want to be a freeloader.” He shook his head even though she wasn’t looking at him.

“You’re not,” he assured her. “I’ve already bought the tickets and I don’t really want them to go to waste.”

“If you’re sure, then I guess I could go.” she said. “I’m pretty sure I’m free.”

“Awesome!” he exclaimed. Another point for him, one less for Ethan. He couldn’t help but think how Ethan would react if he heard about this. “It’s a date.” He felt her tense up beside him as they approached their classroom. “Well, not a date-date, not unless you want it to be?” He phrased it like a question, waiting to see her response. She let out a sigh.

“I’ll still go,” she told him, slowing her pace and turning to him. “But I- I don’t think we should call it a date.”

“That’s fine.” He tried his best not to sound disappointed, but he must have failed, because she was taking her words back moments later.

“It’s- it’s not that I don’t want it to be a date, I just don’t want, I don’t think- “

“Really, it’s okay.” He put his hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye. “You don’t need to explain anything. And don’t feel pressured to say anything, either.” She opened her mouth again but he cut her off. “Really, it’s fine.” He smiled at her again. “Let’s just get to class and talk about this later, okay?” She nodded.

“Sure.”

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

“It’s your fault.” Tom poked the center of Ethan’s chest to emphasize his point. “She’s all caught up in your offer of a date and can’t think about what she wants to do without feeling guilty!” They were standing beside one of the many fountains on campus, ‘discussing’ their attempts to win Jenny over.

“It’s not my fault if she’s hesitant to go on date with you because she’s in to me!” exclaimed Ethan, shoving Tom back a step. He was getting a little nervous at their proximity. While Ethan was probably the more athletic of the two he never felt as willing to take Tom in a fight, probably because of the height difference. Tom glared at him.

“She’s hesitant to go on date with me because you’re being so forward!” he yelled back, but not coming any closer. He was now hyper aware of the distance between them and his lack of confidence in his ability to win against Ethan in a fight, also noticing the escalating anger. He hated the guy but he could recognize his athletic prowess. “Bringing her flowers ‘because you want to see her smile’ is not being subtle! You’re making her apprehensive about going out with either of us!” Ethan scoffed.

“You’re just concerned that I’m closer to getting a date than you are.” Tom furrowed his brows in frustration. “Just admit that you’ve lost and leave her to me.”

“How about this,” started Tom. Ethan crossed his arms but stopped talking to let him speak. “We all go to Ben’s birthday party in a couple weeks and have ourselves a little flirting competition. Nothing too intense, and no getting her or either of us drunk.” Ethan stayed still but didn’t say anything, mulling it over. “But until then, we remain friendly and flirt as little as possible, that way she can get used to just being around us and will hopefully have made a decision by the time the party rolls around.” He held out his hand towards Ethan. “Gentleman’s agreement.” Ethan’s gaze darted between Tom’s face and the outstretched hand before uncrossing his arms and shaking Tom’s hand with a sly smile.

“I’m nothing if not a gentleman.”

 

* * * * * * * * *

 

“You’re invited, right?” asked Jenny, a partially panicked look on her face. “Because I would feel really bad talking about it if you weren’t.” Ethan just nodded.

“Yup, I’m invited. It should be fun!” Jenny beamed in response, launching back into her story from last year’s party and how this year was going to be even better.

“It’s his twentieth,” she explained excitedly. “So everyone’s saying it’s gong to be really impressive!” She leaned back in her chair, resting her forearms on the armrests. “If it’s even half as good as last year it should be super fun.” Ethan cringed internally at the use of the word ‘super’, his least favourite adjective after living with a younger sister who, for several years, had been obsessed with the word.

“Let’s hope so.”

 

* * * * * * * * * * * *

 

“So,” said Ethan, awkwardly. “How has your day been?” Tom and Ethan were both on the same crowded bus for the half hour it took to get to the campus. They were sitting beside each other and Ethan’s phone was dead, so he decided to attempt civil conversation with his sworn enemy to pass the time. Maybe he could get some information and one-up the competition. Who knows? It was the only valid course of action he could think of for this situation.

“Good,” Tom answered cautiously, unsettled by the sudden communication. They had been ignoring each other for the past week, sharing a couple glares here and there. “You?” Ethan nodded politely.

“Same.” They sat in silence for a few minutes, pretending to be interested in the various advertisements decorating the inside of the bus. Tom finally snapped and decided to brag a little, assuming the crowded bus would prevent any physical confrontations.

“I was texting Jenny earlier,” he started, tapping the ‘on’ button on his phone and unlocking it as he felt Ethan bristle beside him. “She was telling me how weird it was that both the classmates beside her in chemistry and the teacher are left-handed.” He tapped the messages icon and opened a conversation, scrolling to a particular message. “She knows I’m right-handed and said ‘Us righties have to stick together.’ Too bad you’re a lefty.” He tried to keep up his smug expression but realised quickly that he had probably made a much bigger deal of it than he should have. He was panicking internally and bracing himself for the onslaught of ridicule when Ethan let out a breathy chuckle.

“It’s not really that impressive, man.” Tom winced slightly at his words. “Besides, I’m not really a lefty, I’m ambidextrous.” He then turned away, intently focused on another passenger a couple feet away, leaving Tom to stew silently. Not only was he feeling embarrassed, but he was also insanely jealous of Ethan’s talent. He tried for years when he was younger to be ambidextrous but could never get the hang of it, and he envied anyone with that quality. Great. Another point for Ethan. He resigned himself to silence after making a quick comment.

“Cool.”

 

* * * * * * * * * * *

 

“Oh, I didn’t know you were going!” commented Jenny. “That’s great! It’s gonna be so much fun!” Tom couldn’t help but smile with her. Man, was her enthusiasm contagious.

“I’m not usually much of a party-person, but I’m getting pretty excited.” He listened to her rant about some stupidly dangerous thing someone did the previous year and responded to her questions. He was starting to feel very confident in his chances at the party and was sure he was doing better than Ethan. The guy was probably failing at friendly conversation, he mused and hoped as he tried to convince himself he was going to win.

“Me neither,” she said, pulling him back to their conversation. “But it was still so much fun! I hear he’s renting a bouncy castle and I know it sounds childish but I’m so excited since I haven’t been on one in years and…” He let her continue for a while, absently planning his moves for the night of the party as she spoke. “And there’s probably going to be a lot of good food. Ben always splurges on snacks.”

“It sounds like it’ll be a riot.” Jenny nodded, then glanced down at her watch.

“Damn,” she commented. “It’s already four-thirty, I should go. I’ll see you around?” Tom smiled in agreement.

“Yup, see you around.”

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

“Casual or fancy…” mused Ethan as he held up two shirts in front of the mirror in his bedroom. “Hmm…” He was trying to decide on his outfit for the party, which was starting in an hour. He had already picked out the pants and shoes - a pair of plain blue jeans and sleek black sneakers - and was trying to choose between a solid blue t-shirt or red dress-shirt. He held both up in front of him and contemplated the looks for a few more seconds before deciding on the dress shirt, realising that it wasn’t that fancy but would still make it seem like he was dressing up for the party.

He pulled the shirt over his head and went to his minifridge to grab a snack. Nothing too heavy, just enough to tide him over until he got to the party. A little while later he grabbed his wallet and phone and headed for the door, going over his game plan for the evening. He was almost at the end of the hallway when he remembered that he didn’t have his keys and therefore didn’t lock his door. Trudging back down the hallway, hoping no one will notice his shame, he muttered to himself.

“Idiot.”

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

“Holy shit, this looks awesome!” shouted Tom’s friend as they got closer to the front door. There were people partying outside the house, dancing and playing various drunk games, but the real party was inside, if the thudding bass coming from behind the door was any indication.

“Yeah, wow.” Concluded Tom intelligently as he took in the environment. He barely had any time to prepare himself when his friend threw open the front door and the sound came pouring out.

“Holy shit!” his friend exclaimed again, before going inside and disappearing into the crowd. The front room was, inconveniently, packed with people dancing, with the main living area adjacent to the front room. The stereo pounded out some modern club song that Tom didn’t know and he fought his way through the dancers, eager to find a place where he would be able to hear himself think.

He found his way to the kitchen, where various alcohol bottles covered every surface. From there, he managed to stumble upon a good-sized seating area with a fair amount of people chatting idly. Though he wasn’t much of a partier, Tom made decent small-talk and had a few interesting discussions with party-goers, all varying degrees of drunk. He was chatting with one particularly inebriated blonde girl about the social hierarchy of kangaroos when he heard an excited screech.

“Tom!” He turned around to see Jenny standing in the doorway. “You’re here!” Then, upon seeing his lack of beverage she added “Let me get you a drink!” She left for the kitchen before Tom could say anything.

A couple moments later someone walked through the doorway, but it wasn’t Jenny. It was Ethan.

“Hello.” Ethan greeted him with practised disinterest and plopped himself down on the sofa beside Tom with a sigh. He waited a couple seconds before meeting his eyes. “Ready to begin?” he asked. Tom nodded, a grin forming on his face.

“Of course.” They faced away from each other until Jenny came in a couple minutes later.

“Sorry! I couldn’t find the ginger ale at first and I know that’s your favourite so- Ethan! Hey!” she cut herself off, handing Tom his drink and settling herself between the two. “Long time no see.” She said with a light shove. Tom could feel his jealousy and competitive spirit bubbling as she continued to talk with Ethan, who has looking very pleased with himself.

“Hey, Jenny,” he interrupted, causing her to twist to look at him. “Hate to interrupt, but I know you were hoping there might be a bouncy castle, and if there is there’s a good possibility the drunks will cover it in alcohol at some point, so we should try and find it before that happens.” Jenny’s eyes lit up and she turned back to Ethan.

“Sorry, but he’s right. You okay?” Ethan nodded politely, but Tom could tell he was a bit pissed at him.

“I’ll catch up with you in bit.” Jenny stood up as he said it and motioned for Tom to follow her out of the room. He couldn’t help but glance back at Ethan as they left and stick his tongue out only to receive a middle finger in return. He laughed as they exited the seating room, and when Jenny asked why he shrugged.

“Just finally feeling the party energy.”

 

* * * * * * * * * * *

 

“That’s fucking hilarious.”

Ethan was dumbfounded. He had finally worked in his dish-pit story and Jenny had told him that it was hilarious, and then he overheard – okay, he had been eavesdropping – Tom tell his lame escalator story and Jenny said the exact same thing! He was getting nowhere.

To be fair, it didn’t seem like Tom was either. Both of them had tried many different flirting techniques and none of them stuck. She kept either laughing off their advances or getting distracted by someone or something else. Ethan was getting frustrated and he could tell Tom was too.

Ten minutes later found him and Jenny outside, chatting with some school friends as he whispered funny comments in her ear about other party-goers. She was laughing but kept shoving him playfully and then continuing a conversation with someone else. He would almost rather declare Tom the victor and be done with the whole thing. Three hours with zero results had created plenty of frustration.

He and Tom amped up their efforts simultaneously over the next hour, getting more and more flirty with her to the point where they might as well have just told her outright what they were doing.

“I don’t get,” commented Tom, confusion evident in his tone. “It’s like she’s deliberately ignoring our flirting.” They were seated on either end of a different sofa, both contemplating their game-plans and trying to figure out what went wrong. Ethan was just about to make another observation when Jenny sat down on the chair across from them.

“How’re you two doing?” she asked, an odd tone in her voice.

“Good,” replied Tom. “Just chilling.” She nodded.

“I’d be better if you were sitting here with me.” Ethan winked as he said it, causing Jenny to roll her eyes and sigh.

“You guys are frustrating as hell.” Tom and Ethan sat up in their seats in surprise.

“What do you mean?” asked Ethan, confusion written across his face. Jenny looked between the two for a moment, then stood up abruptly, grabbing them both by the wrists and hauling them up.

“I think we need to have a quick conversation.”

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

“What conversation?” asked Tom as Jenny dragged them through one room and into what appeared to be the laundry room, shutting the door behind them. Both boys stood awkwardly on opposite sides of the room which, considering the size of it, wasn’t that far apart.

“You two,” she stated once the door was secured and she had turned around to face them. “Are unbelievably fucking dense.” Ethan stared at her in disbelief as Tom just stood still, unsure what to make of her statement.

Jenny sighed. “I’ve been doing some thinking about myself these past couple weeks,” she started, shifting her weight onto one leg and crossing her arms. Neither Tom nor Ethan moved. “And I’ve realised a couple things: the first is that I don’t want to be with either of you.” They looked shocked and she kept going before they could interrupt. “But it’s not just because I’m not interested in you. It’s also because I’m pretty sure I’m asexual.” She made eye contact with them, one after the other, as if waiting for an objection. No one said anything for a couple seconds. “However, I don’t think I’d want to date either of you anyway, and that’s because of the second thing I realised. 

“I figured out that I’m probably ace a week and a half ago, and I tried to give some subtle hints that I wasn’t interested in either of you, but you two were so caught up in the little game you had going that you didn’t even notice. And yes,” she said, when she saw their shocked expressions. “I did notice that you had a competition going between you two, but here’s the thing I don’t think you realise: you weren’t really paying attention to me anymore. Sure, you were talking to me and giving me gifts and stuff, but I don’t think they were really for me. Any time you guys were around each other it seemed like you were being nice to me to one-up each other, to impress each other, not me. And, although I find the attention very flattering, I can tell that it’s not really for me.”

The room was silent for a minute as the they took in that information. They hadn’t noticed that she was sending them signals of disinterest. And they had definitely been more invested in the other’s reactions to their gestures than in Jenny’s own reactions.

“Do I need to explain it further or do you understand?” she asked them, genuinely unsure if they understood or not. They both shook their heads.

“No,” said Ethan. “I think we’re good.” Jenny smiled.

“Good,” she reached towards the doorknob and turned to leave. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I found someone here that knows about a litter of kittens for sale and I think I might get one.” She opened the door and added “I think you boys need to have a little heart to heart!” before shutting it unceremoniously behind her. The room was silent again, the sound of the door closing echoing in the hole Jenny’s voice left. Finally, Tom turned to face Ethan.

“Well, fuck.” Ethan laughed at his blunt statement and ran a hand through his hair.

“That about sums it up,” he said, leaning back against the wall. “I have nothing else to say.”

“What do you think she meant about us needing to have a heart to heart?” asked Tom. He had an idea but wanted Ethan to bring it up. He was never very good at talking about this sort of thing. It was a miracle he managed to start this competition and flirt with Jenny in the first place, even if it was clear now that there had been an unconscious ulterior motive.

“Well,” started Ethan, an uncharacteristic blush settling on his cheeks. “I think it has something to do with why we were trying so hard to get a date with Jenny just to impress each other.” Tom nodded in agreement and looked down at the floor, also blushing furiously. There were another few moments where neither of them said anything.

“Would you- ahem,” Tom cleared his throat and began speaking again, looking up from the floor. Ethan was looking back at him. “Would you like to leave and grab a drink somewhere?” Ethan couldn’t help but grin at Tom’s nervousness. Tom smiled back, cautiously, still waiting for a response.

“I’d love to.”

 

* * * * * * * * * * *

 

“Just pick him up,” said Jenny, adopting an exasperated tone. “You won’t hurt him.” Tom grimaced but reached forward anyway, gingerly grasping the black and white kitten seated on Jenny’s lap. It struggled momentarily before Tom placed it on his own lap, petting it lightly and cooing at it’s fluffiness.

“Aw.” He smiled softly as it lay down, getting comfortable on the blanket covering his legs.

“Isn’t he just the cutest thing ever?” said Jenny, watching as the tiny pet leaned into Toms hand, eyes droopy.

“I can think of something way cuter,” commented Ethan. He was sitting on the couch next to Tom, close enough that their knees bumped against each other when they moved. He was watching Tom’s face intently, more interested in his boyfriend’s reaction than the kitten itself.

“Very funny,” snorted Tom, but he was smiling, and it wasn’t because of the kitten. “You flatter me.” He ruffled Ethan’s hair playfully and then placed a kiss on the top of his head. Jenny made a gagging noise but smiled anyway.

“You two are dorks.” She reached for the kitten and Tom let her take it back, deciding to grab his boyfriend instead and rest his chin on Ethan’s head. Ethan chuckled lightly at her words but leaned against Tom, snuggling up to the crook of his neck.

“Yeah, we are.” Ethan agreed, his words slightly muffled. 

“Hey!” protested Tom. Ethan shoved his arm but stayed where he was.

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my friends for urging me to write this and thanks to Kitkat_Comics for proof-reading it (at least as much as she can since there's a reason that, between us, I'm the editor). I wrote this story between the hours of 8:30 pm and 3 am, so there were many times where I simply forgot words and added others.


End file.
